With our task completed, we await our ride out. No room for a landing, so this one is going to be on the hoist. Here she comes, oh crap, looks like she's 100 feet in the air, this is going to be one long ride!

I watch as all my compadres go up the line, then its my turn. Does anyone else ever think.....maybe I'll just do the 3 hour hike out instead? Then suddenly the hook is in your face, you grab it, and before you know it, you're in the loudest, most vibrating, coolest ship in town...the H3 !!

I took this pix just before I got knocked on my butt from the rotor wash.

Company working for:TSMerryman Freelance (Lighting Design and Cinematography)

Posted 16 December 2010 - 01:06

Ok so I am actually bringing back the dead here for this post, but I have to ask... Goldy what in the world do you do? you are here searching for the bad guys and yet I also see your posts about heading up a HVAC lift and flying R22 and R44 and several others that seem to be like a charter type gigs or recreational. You seem to be the mystery man.

BUT WAIT!!!!
I've got it now, your a super secret government agent
Am I right or am I right?

Student-Cinematographer-Photographer

If you have GoPro or other aviation footage you would like made into a montage, message or email thomas@tsmfirephoto.com This is a spare time hobby so it's free of charge.

Geez, I almost missed this one. Where in the world did you dig this post up?

Let's just say I have a lot of hobbies, most that involve helicopters in one way or another. In fact, most of the hobbies are so cool, that I have to take pictures or people I know would never believe half this stuff. Usually when I come home, the wife says "You did WHAT today?"

Just for the record, stepping out and hoisting down never bothers me, but looking up still gives me a pit now and then.

Interests:I have ADD when it comes to hobbies, so I won't list them all!

Posted 09 January 2011 - 16:26

I will step in and say that Goldy is very talented and seems to find himself in the right place at the right time and his luck is outstanding. With that said, I think more happens then he lets on to the rest of us.

But since he can't toot his own horn, I will step out and do a little for him. He is associated with LA County S.O. on his off time and gets official rides every now and again to fulfill his some of his requirements with the department. He also has some associations with a local flight school and then somehow he found a gig writing for a helicopter rag or two as well. The luck of some......... sheesh lol

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences."

#1 ...Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses...
#2 No smoking 8 hours before the flight or drinking within 25 feet of the aircraft.
#3 If it can't be fixed with a hammer, it must be an electrical problem. Bend to fit, dent to match.
#4 I don't care about being right, as long as I prove you wrong.
#5 If you can't have a really good laugh, at least provide an entertaining cry.
#6 What the large print giveth, the fine print taketh away.
#7 Anyone who flies lower than me is a moron, anyone who flies higher is a maniac, any one who flies the same altitude is a threat.
#8 A boy makes his girl jealous of other women. A Gentleman makes other women jealous of a lady.
#9 The other vehicle is my crumple zone.
#10 One of the goals in my life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am.
#11 America has a long history of dealing with those who stomp on rights. There’s the soap box, letter box, ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box for dealing with these sorts.
#12 Passion is what you do when it’s convenient, commitment is what you do when it is inconvenient.
#13 Never argue with an idiot; they bring you down to their level and beat you with their experience.

#14 It is customary caveman tradition to curse inanimate objects after making a mistake that causes injury to self.

#15 History doesn’t always repeat, but it usually rhymes. Tree. Politician. Rope. Some assembly required.

#16 Always plan for the mission as if you are the wetware that others are trying to liquidate somewhere between Destruction Bay and Explosionville.

#17 A goal too easily achieved is often a disappointment.

"I will not turn my clock back. I will be living one hour in the future. I greet you, The People of the Past. Your ways are quaint."

And sometimes, it just has to be said:

"I rode the short bus and I don't remember seeing you on my bus. But you should have been on it."

I know this is an old post, but Goldy those LASD H3's are fricking death trap flying coffins. Ill stick to the Bureau's B2's. Thank God the board of stupidvisors approved the Super Pumas to replace those hazardous H3's.

I know this is an old post, but Goldy those LASD H3's are fricking death trap flying coffins. Ill stick to the Bureau's B2's. Thank God the board of stupidvisors approved the Super Pumas to replace those hazardous H3's.

Wow, how I hate missing a response to a post only to find it 2 years later! I agree the old H3's were a bit scary...tail rotor boom cracks and all. The new Super Pumas are pretty awesome, however, they have one hell of a tornado under them about 40 feet down the line, and without a static discharge line touching the ground will knock the socks off your feet. Other than that, pretty damn cool ship....and fast as hell.

In Afghanistan, I got the feeling while hoisting some SAS guys off a mountain in a CH-46. At that altitude and temperature, we were in "topping power" MGT for like 10 minutes, when you're only supposed to be there for a few seconds. I kept waiting for an engine to fail while I'm in a hover next to a cliff.

"Why can't we buy just one airplane and let the pilots take turns flying it?"--President Calvin Coolidge